Ok, Bashpodder is not pretty. It's sexy in a linux kinda way, but it's not pretty.
Bashpodder is about 20 lines of code written to do one thing: Drag down podcasts and put them on your machine.
It does this very simply by using wget and a couple other tools. It reads a list of podcasts from a .conf file, again, a simple list of podcast sites. Elegant.
There is almost no overhead for this, it's not running any gui, no extra code, no extra counters.
The best part about it? You can pick the whole thing up, dump it in a new directory, and it'll happily work away! Can you say that about amorok? Rhythmbox? I-Tunes? NOPE! Bashpodder is the ultimate in linux podcast portability.
I actually have it running on my USB HDD right now!
jsl
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Amazed.
I have been working with my students to complete a project. The details of the project are insignificant beyond the fact that I have asked the students to write a folder to CD-Rom.
Wow.
Let me say that all of our students have passed the computer competency exam required by our state.
I would say that about half of the students in my class were clueless about how to write to a CD-Rom in windows XP. Beyond that, they were fairly uncertain as to how to copy a file to begin with!
I am amazed that our students are up to the "standard," but cannot complete two such basic tasks! Are the standards that low?
Again, I am amazed that I had to spend class time teaching my 9th graders how to complete basic tasks. wow.
Wow.
Let me say that all of our students have passed the computer competency exam required by our state.
I would say that about half of the students in my class were clueless about how to write to a CD-Rom in windows XP. Beyond that, they were fairly uncertain as to how to copy a file to begin with!
I am amazed that our students are up to the "standard," but cannot complete two such basic tasks! Are the standards that low?
Again, I am amazed that I had to spend class time teaching my 9th graders how to complete basic tasks. wow.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Things to do.
When you install a Debian system, by default, you do not have admin rights. Coming from a Microsoft system, you might say, "What? That's stupid. I hate it... That's annoying... Gimme admin... I'll run as root!"
Don't do that.
When you are running as root, you open yourself up for all kinds of vulnerabilities. This is why some OS's are so easily hacked. Since people are running everything as root, then worms and viruses have total write access to system files. These little nasties can get into the system and really mess things up.
In other OS's, it's really hard to do something as admin for one command. At least, I don't know of how to do it.
In linux, you are given the option to run something as root by typing, "sudo" in front of it. For all intents and purposes, you are root for that command.
If you're running Debian from a net_inst, you do not have any sudoer privileges at all. Now this is a repeat of what I typed in a previous post, but it does bear repeating. You can add yourself to the sudoers list by typing the following commands:
su
(type root password)
visudo
This will put you into the root user and you will be editing the sudoers file.
scroll down the file until you see:
"root ALL=(ALL) ALL"
Under that, type:
"username ALL=(ALL) ALL"
Where username == the name that you log in under.
My recommendation is to only do this for one user. If you are working on another user account, you can always drop to terminal and change users with:
su username
You can even switch to root as you did previously, but don't. It's a bad idea. The more you do as root, the more likely you are to make a mess of things.
Enjoy Linux!
Don't do that.
When you are running as root, you open yourself up for all kinds of vulnerabilities. This is why some OS's are so easily hacked. Since people are running everything as root, then worms and viruses have total write access to system files. These little nasties can get into the system and really mess things up.
In other OS's, it's really hard to do something as admin for one command. At least, I don't know of how to do it.
In linux, you are given the option to run something as root by typing, "sudo" in front of it. For all intents and purposes, you are root for that command.
If you're running Debian from a net_inst, you do not have any sudoer privileges at all. Now this is a repeat of what I typed in a previous post, but it does bear repeating. You can add yourself to the sudoers list by typing the following commands:
su
(type root password)
visudo
This will put you into the root user and you will be editing the sudoers file.
scroll down the file until you see:
"root ALL=(ALL) ALL"
Under that, type:
"username ALL=(ALL) ALL"
Where username == the name that you log in under.
My recommendation is to only do this for one user. If you are working on another user account, you can always drop to terminal and change users with:
su username
You can even switch to root as you did previously, but don't. It's a bad idea. The more you do as root, the more likely you are to make a mess of things.
Enjoy Linux!
Being Dumb.
I was helping a good friend of mine with his fresh Linux install and my brain went all Microsoft on me.
What do I mean? Well, it's simple. Living in a Microsoft world, you have to either be a complete genius, or ignore error codes. I remember working at a bookstore and the error codes we got were pure gibberish. We would be cashing out a customer and get a message that was something like:
Cobalt Error # FF3E2.
Please Contact the company who wrote this program to resolve this issue.
Well, since we bought the program through a third party, we had no direct contact with them. The Third party just told us to reboot the server.
Currently, I'll get an error while at work, and I can look at the details, but they're still meaningless. I also start getting the, "Do you want to report this error to Microsoft?" I hate that message. It's like saying, "Do you want to tattle on this open source project that Windows barfed on?" I always hit don't send.
Fast forward to the future where everyone is running Linux because Windows 7 is worse than Vista (my supposition alone, no valid opinion here). Vague error messages are a thing of the past. All of the sudden you can understand, or at least learn to understand, what an error message means. Creepy stack errors have associated with them different sources that can be tracked down and corrected.
Let me say this. If you are new to Linux, do not fear the error message! Read it! Most of the time you will be able to decipher something to put into a search engine. You can visit your distro's forums and ask about your problem there. Forget your Microsoft programming and use the error messages to problem solve. Take back the joy of using your computer!
Now, if you've gotten a couple of common error messages, you might have a difficult time resolving them because they're too basic to show up in a lot of searches. I don't know why some of these basic things don't show up, but I had a hard time finding them.
If you are told that apt-get didn't finish running, or there are errors in your database, type into your terminal (as root or sudo)
apt-get install -f
If you are trying to compile something from source, and you are told that you do not have the correct libraries, do not install those libraries from source. Instead check the repositories for the -dev package. So, you might get the error, GTK 2.0-+ not found, this simply means that you should install the "GTK_2.0-dev" package. Being armed with this knowledge alone should enable you to solve a lot of errors.
Finally, the error I'm calling myself an idiot for. When running synaptic in Debian, do not, ever, type,
sudo killall synaptic
ever.
It's stupid.
You will break something. Instead make sure you click that little arrow that allows you to view details about the output. More than likely, if you're seeing a stall in synaptic, something is asking you for input in that little window that is currently hidden.
Above all, do not ignore a Linux Error message unless a dev tell you, "You're going to see this error message, we know about it, don't worry, it's not important."
Enjoy Linux!
What do I mean? Well, it's simple. Living in a Microsoft world, you have to either be a complete genius, or ignore error codes. I remember working at a bookstore and the error codes we got were pure gibberish. We would be cashing out a customer and get a message that was something like:
Please Contact the company who wrote this program to resolve this issue.
Well, since we bought the program through a third party, we had no direct contact with them. The Third party just told us to reboot the server.
Currently, I'll get an error while at work, and I can look at the details, but they're still meaningless. I also start getting the, "Do you want to report this error to Microsoft?" I hate that message. It's like saying, "Do you want to tattle on this open source project that Windows barfed on?" I always hit don't send.
Fast forward to the future where everyone is running Linux because Windows 7 is worse than Vista (my supposition alone, no valid opinion here). Vague error messages are a thing of the past. All of the sudden you can understand, or at least learn to understand, what an error message means. Creepy stack errors have associated with them different sources that can be tracked down and corrected.
Let me say this. If you are new to Linux, do not fear the error message! Read it! Most of the time you will be able to decipher something to put into a search engine. You can visit your distro's forums and ask about your problem there. Forget your Microsoft programming and use the error messages to problem solve. Take back the joy of using your computer!
Now, if you've gotten a couple of common error messages, you might have a difficult time resolving them because they're too basic to show up in a lot of searches. I don't know why some of these basic things don't show up, but I had a hard time finding them.
If you are told that apt-get didn't finish running, or there are errors in your database, type into your terminal (as root or sudo)
apt-get install -f
If you are trying to compile something from source, and you are told that you do not have the correct libraries, do not install those libraries from source. Instead check the repositories for the -dev package. So, you might get the error, GTK 2.0-+ not found, this simply means that you should install the "GTK_2.0-dev" package. Being armed with this knowledge alone should enable you to solve a lot of errors.
Finally, the error I'm calling myself an idiot for. When running synaptic in Debian, do not, ever, type,
sudo killall synaptic
ever.
It's stupid.
You will break something. Instead make sure you click that little arrow that allows you to view details about the output. More than likely, if you're seeing a stall in synaptic, something is asking you for input in that little window that is currently hidden.
Above all, do not ignore a Linux Error message unless a dev tell you, "You're going to see this error message, we know about it, don't worry, it's not important."
Enjoy Linux!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Linux Day!
My friend finally installed Linux on something. It was an old box he had that Best Lie told him was totally non-fixable. Turns out they were half-right. As long as you wanted to run Windows, the box was trashed. We threw Debian Linux on there with a net_inst disc. Whoops! HDD runs fine!
It was somewhat humorous because of the preconceived notions. I'll put my observations here.
1) MS users assume that there will be more to do to be able to run the system after install.
2) MS users assume that Linux will be really really (really) hard to get used to
3) MS users believe that everything will be harder to get working in Linux
This is a non-complete list, but it seems to be the trend with people I've helped convert. My parents, a student, and several friends have all had similar reactions.
After I did a quick demo of Synaptic, my friend said, "Wow! It's that easy and fast? Why doesn't everyone do this?"
I think that we're fighting a battle of perceptions. Done correctly, almost all non-hardware related difficulties can be resolved in Linux quite quickly. At least, I guess I should say the difficulties I've come across. Well, I should say that this is with the obvious exception of installing unstable software. I installed some stuff from source (CVS tree) that is fairly difficult.
Anyway, congratulations you new Linux users out there! Stick with it! You'll find that most things you want to do will be easier!
It was somewhat humorous because of the preconceived notions. I'll put my observations here.
1) MS users assume that there will be more to do to be able to run the system after install.
2) MS users assume that Linux will be really really (really) hard to get used to
3) MS users believe that everything will be harder to get working in Linux
This is a non-complete list, but it seems to be the trend with people I've helped convert. My parents, a student, and several friends have all had similar reactions.
After I did a quick demo of Synaptic, my friend said, "Wow! It's that easy and fast? Why doesn't everyone do this?"
I think that we're fighting a battle of perceptions. Done correctly, almost all non-hardware related difficulties can be resolved in Linux quite quickly. At least, I guess I should say the difficulties I've come across. Well, I should say that this is with the obvious exception of installing unstable software. I installed some stuff from source (CVS tree) that is fairly difficult.
Anyway, congratulations you new Linux users out there! Stick with it! You'll find that most things you want to do will be easier!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Inauguration Day
So it's January 20th. Wow.
Four Years ago, Mr. Bush was inaugurated for the second time. Eight years ago, it happened for the first time. This is not designed to be a commentary on Mr. Bush or Mr. Obama. This is just some observations regarding where Mr. Bush's supporters are and where Mr. Obama's supporters are. I know, not grammatically correct, but...
It's Jan 20th, 2009. Inauguration day for Mr. O. There is a complete article about today on Wikipedia. By complete, I mean, holy cow! There is information about every aspect of the celebrations today already on the wikipedia. I'm sure there are a few people just updating the wiki's right now.
Google Bush's inauguration, 2004. Go ahead. I'll wait.
I just did it too... I could not find any single web site that covered the inauguration like this. I could not find a single comprehensive listing of the day's events. I wanted to compare music selections, speeches, etc., but I'm far too lazy to sift through all the amalgam of various pages to find what I'm looking for.
It's amazing to me that the country is so supportive of this new president. I am overall content with what is going on, but I will wait to see what happens next!
Four Years ago, Mr. Bush was inaugurated for the second time. Eight years ago, it happened for the first time. This is not designed to be a commentary on Mr. Bush or Mr. Obama. This is just some observations regarding where Mr. Bush's supporters are and where Mr. Obama's supporters are. I know, not grammatically correct, but...
It's Jan 20th, 2009. Inauguration day for Mr. O. There is a complete article about today on Wikipedia. By complete, I mean, holy cow! There is information about every aspect of the celebrations today already on the wikipedia. I'm sure there are a few people just updating the wiki's right now.
Google Bush's inauguration, 2004. Go ahead. I'll wait.
I just did it too... I could not find any single web site that covered the inauguration like this. I could not find a single comprehensive listing of the day's events. I wanted to compare music selections, speeches, etc., but I'm far too lazy to sift through all the amalgam of various pages to find what I'm looking for.
It's amazing to me that the country is so supportive of this new president. I am overall content with what is going on, but I will wait to see what happens next!
Scite
If you're in IRC, you can easily .wik Scite and find out quickly what it is. As a matter of fact, it looks like "SciTE or SCIntilla based Text Editor is a cross-platform text editor written by Neil Hodgson using the Scintilla editing component." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scite.
Wow. What a gross understatement. Scite is somewhere between a text editor, as our fine IRC bot let us know, and a full-fledged IDE. Scite is really a programming tool that helps someone to be able to identify programming errors due to syntax issues. This program can complete commands, but it doesn't do it perfectly, nor does it do it like the Java NetBeans IDE. If you're looking for a full-fledged IDE, look elsewhere.
Scite excels because it offers formatting support for a very wide variety of programming languages including HTML, JavaScript, C, C++, Perl, PHP and Python. There are many more in the default list, but you'll have to check for yourself to see if your language of choice is included.
BUT WAIT! There's more! You, given enough time and boredom, can write the interface for your favorite non-included programming language. You can edit the way the language is interfaced for your language (turning word completion on or off, for example). You can change the formatting colors, you can change the function formatting and so forth.
If you are a programmer, or pretend to be a programmer like me, check out Scite. I think you'll enjoy it!
Wow. What a gross understatement. Scite is somewhere between a text editor, as our fine IRC bot let us know, and a full-fledged IDE. Scite is really a programming tool that helps someone to be able to identify programming errors due to syntax issues. This program can complete commands, but it doesn't do it perfectly, nor does it do it like the Java NetBeans IDE. If you're looking for a full-fledged IDE, look elsewhere.
Scite excels because it offers formatting support for a very wide variety of programming languages including HTML, JavaScript, C, C++, Perl, PHP and Python. There are many more in the default list, but you'll have to check for yourself to see if your language of choice is included.
BUT WAIT! There's more! You, given enough time and boredom, can write the interface for your favorite non-included programming language. You can edit the way the language is interfaced for your language (turning word completion on or off, for example). You can change the formatting colors, you can change the function formatting and so forth.
If you are a programmer, or pretend to be a programmer like me, check out Scite. I think you'll enjoy it!
Python
I'm watching the inauguration on TV and programming in Python. Python is a real joy to program. Rather, I should say that running python with this book is a real joy. I think that if more languages had instructions written like this, then there would be many more talented programmers around.
There are people who CAN think like a computer. These are people who have a talent that is left undeveloped because the bar has been raised so high for entrance into the "world" of computer programming that students give up and quit very quickly.
Sure, there are excellent programs like Alice from Carnegie Melon University, but Alie only teaches principles. It doesn't really teach programming.
This python book, developed, if I'm not mistaken, through open source channels, is an absolutely excellent introductory book for python and computer science. I'm not sure what the future of computer science holds, but I am sure that python with wxWidgets will be a part of it. More on that as I learn it!
There are people who CAN think like a computer. These are people who have a talent that is left undeveloped because the bar has been raised so high for entrance into the "world" of computer programming that students give up and quit very quickly.
Sure, there are excellent programs like Alice from Carnegie Melon University, but Alie only teaches principles. It doesn't really teach programming.
This python book, developed, if I'm not mistaken, through open source channels, is an absolutely excellent introductory book for python and computer science. I'm not sure what the future of computer science holds, but I am sure that python with wxWidgets will be a part of it. More on that as I learn it!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Recent News.
Due to insomnia and a teething one-year-old, I have been missing a little bit of sleep. Well, luckily, I finally found a little bit of it! Yay!
Back to regular blogging. This week brought our awards banquet, which was quite nice. It did, however, remind me of a gripe I had years ago about OpenOffice.org. You will remember that I love oo.o. It's a great program, and I highly recommend it to anyone who needs a Office Productivity Suite.
On to my complaint. OpenOffice has a .PDF exportation feature, which is really nice! Nice, that is, as long as you are printing something completely text-based. It does horribly with graphics. OpenOffice Draw allows you to make some stunning publications, but it can be difficult to get those publications to print professionally because print shops don't like to support OO.o. Now, I'm only speaking of the print shops here in Rural No-Where, your shop might gladly support OpenOffice.
If you are interested in printing a lot of documents with these great tools, ask your shop if they support the Open Office Suite. If they tell you that they do not, talk to a manager and let him or her know that they can easily support it by downloading it from Sun! Make sure you mention that it's (I believe) the fasted growing office productivity suite! (Ok, so there is not much competition for growth!)
Upcoming blogs include my efforts to turn my linux box into a multimedia productivity station by installing a dynebolic partition (not any time soon, probably). You will also get to read about regular expressions as I write some lessons regarding this powerful tool.
If you're anxious for more Jelkimantis stuff, head on over to www.jelkimantis.com, or follow me on twitter!
Back to regular blogging. This week brought our awards banquet, which was quite nice. It did, however, remind me of a gripe I had years ago about OpenOffice.org. You will remember that I love oo.o. It's a great program, and I highly recommend it to anyone who needs a Office Productivity Suite.
On to my complaint. OpenOffice has a .PDF exportation feature, which is really nice! Nice, that is, as long as you are printing something completely text-based. It does horribly with graphics. OpenOffice Draw allows you to make some stunning publications, but it can be difficult to get those publications to print professionally because print shops don't like to support OO.o. Now, I'm only speaking of the print shops here in Rural No-Where, your shop might gladly support OpenOffice.
If you are interested in printing a lot of documents with these great tools, ask your shop if they support the Open Office Suite. If they tell you that they do not, talk to a manager and let him or her know that they can easily support it by downloading it from Sun! Make sure you mention that it's (I believe) the fasted growing office productivity suite! (Ok, so there is not much competition for growth!)
Upcoming blogs include my efforts to turn my linux box into a multimedia productivity station by installing a dynebolic partition (not any time soon, probably). You will also get to read about regular expressions as I write some lessons regarding this powerful tool.
If you're anxious for more Jelkimantis stuff, head on over to www.jelkimantis.com, or follow me on twitter!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Building A Server / MySQL backup
I'm just listening to Chad W @t linuxbasement --dot-- com discuss server issues and establishment.
All I have to say is that, wow, Mr. W. is a very knowledgeable individual when it comes to server administration. In this episode, he's discussing a variety of different subjects including running one's own web server. I miss running my own web server. I think I lamented on this in my last post (which is dated the same day as this post, but was written earlier).
Anyway, I am reminded, by this episode, to make sure to backup my mysql files. I am essentially administering the local Moodle server. (Tech guy, when you read this, I need to get you up to speed! I'm starting to get panic attacks about the upcoming release party of our site!) Luckily enough, there is a great tool which allows you to easily run a backup of Mysql data. Today's tutorial will go step-by-step on how to do this.
Step 1: Log in to your linux Distribution and fire up your package manager. (Debian has mysqladmin right in the repo, so easy enough!) Select and install mysqladmin and all the dependencies. If you need to, you can find some more information about mysqladmin at its sourceforge page.
Step 2: Log in to mysqladmin (Ubuntu has it in Applications --> Programming)
Step 3: Select "Backup" from the menu.
Step 4: Select the databases (I do one at a time) and hit the Right Arrow to move them to the Backup Content Window. You should also name your project at this time in the Project Name box. Make sure you give this a meaningful name.
Step 5: Select Advanced Options -- If your running a Moodle Server you want to select Lock All Tables -- this will prevent anything from being written to the database while you're backing up. This means that there won't be any lost data. As an aside, this also means that no one will be allowed to write while you're processing this backup.
Step 6: Schedule Backup. You want to run this backup one time per week. Why not more? Well, there is no real need. If you want, you can follow some optional steps Listed Later.
Step 7: Set this backup to run at a specific time, I would say 03:00 would be a good time because most students will be asleep. Midnight can be a fairly active time for students, so a little later is usually better.
Step 8: Set the time and location of this backup. Make sure you keep it out of your main data directory unless you do not have any better options.
Step 9: Set the configuration for the backup. Ideally, you want a connection that is specifically given backup privileges without other privileges. This process will be running automatically, so it presents itself as a security vulnerability if you do not have a specific backup mysql user.
(Optional step 10: Daily backup. Start a new backup task. Backup everything the same as before, but you will not be selecting "LOCK Tables," you will be selecting the unstable Normal option. This is more unstable, but quick and dirty. If you're running both backups, you'll have a shot at getting an up-to-date backup or a totally stable, possibly older, backup)
I hope that this gives some insight on how to do MySQL backup the easy way. Let me know if you need any help!
All I have to say is that, wow, Mr. W. is a very knowledgeable individual when it comes to server administration. In this episode, he's discussing a variety of different subjects including running one's own web server. I miss running my own web server. I think I lamented on this in my last post (which is dated the same day as this post, but was written earlier).
Anyway, I am reminded, by this episode, to make sure to backup my mysql files. I am essentially administering the local Moodle server. (Tech guy, when you read this, I need to get you up to speed! I'm starting to get panic attacks about the upcoming release party of our site!) Luckily enough, there is a great tool which allows you to easily run a backup of Mysql data. Today's tutorial will go step-by-step on how to do this.
Step 1: Log in to your linux Distribution and fire up your package manager. (Debian has mysqladmin right in the repo, so easy enough!) Select and install mysqladmin and all the dependencies. If you need to, you can find some more information about mysqladmin at its sourceforge page.
Step 2: Log in to mysqladmin (Ubuntu has it in Applications --> Programming)
Step 3: Select "Backup" from the menu.
Step 4: Select the databases (I do one at a time) and hit the Right Arrow to move them to the Backup Content Window. You should also name your project at this time in the Project Name box. Make sure you give this a meaningful name.
Step 5: Select Advanced Options -- If your running a Moodle Server you want to select Lock All Tables -- this will prevent anything from being written to the database while you're backing up. This means that there won't be any lost data. As an aside, this also means that no one will be allowed to write while you're processing this backup.
Step 6: Schedule Backup. You want to run this backup one time per week. Why not more? Well, there is no real need. If you want, you can follow some optional steps Listed Later.
Step 7: Set this backup to run at a specific time, I would say 03:00 would be a good time because most students will be asleep. Midnight can be a fairly active time for students, so a little later is usually better.
Step 8: Set the time and location of this backup. Make sure you keep it out of your main data directory unless you do not have any better options.
Step 9: Set the configuration for the backup. Ideally, you want a connection that is specifically given backup privileges without other privileges. This process will be running automatically, so it presents itself as a security vulnerability if you do not have a specific backup mysql user.
(Optional step 10: Daily backup. Start a new backup task. Backup everything the same as before, but you will not be selecting "LOCK Tables," you will be selecting the unstable Normal option. This is more unstable, but quick and dirty. If you're running both backups, you'll have a shot at getting an up-to-date backup or a totally stable, possibly older, backup)
I hope that this gives some insight on how to do MySQL backup the easy way. Let me know if you need any help!
Update
Well, Jelkimantis.com is back online. My server went down in July, and I didn't bother updating the DNS information, or redirecting any traffic to, well, anything. So jelkimantis.com was completely defunct. I finally have time to get back to some web development and the google apps allow me to have complete control over the website as far as javascript and html go anyway.
If you decide to visit the page, don't just yet. I think there is a welcome statement telling you that it's back up, but I've not done anything more with it. Right now I'm looking to see if I can put some generated content from drupal (or drupal itself) up there. This is why I liked running my own web server. I could say, “Hey, I want Drupal” and there it goes.
Which leads us into my new hobby. Learning Drupal. Why, you ask, do I care to learn drupal (as well as Python and all the other stuff I teach myself)? I figure that if I can learn drupal, I can always use it as a fall back or secondary job. I know how to build a web server, I know how to administer web services, and most small businesses want a low-cost web site that can do what they want. I figure I can pick up some extra cash and maybe do some web pages for some businesses if I can build a really snazzy website.
Drupal is an amazing tool that lets you do that, if you care to anyway. I would encourage anyone who is interested in web dev to go to Drupal.org and check it out!
If you decide to visit the page, don't just yet. I think there is a welcome statement telling you that it's back up, but I've not done anything more with it. Right now I'm looking to see if I can put some generated content from drupal (or drupal itself) up there. This is why I liked running my own web server. I could say, “Hey, I want Drupal” and there it goes.
Which leads us into my new hobby. Learning Drupal. Why, you ask, do I care to learn drupal (as well as Python and all the other stuff I teach myself)? I figure that if I can learn drupal, I can always use it as a fall back or secondary job. I know how to build a web server, I know how to administer web services, and most small businesses want a low-cost web site that can do what they want. I figure I can pick up some extra cash and maybe do some web pages for some businesses if I can build a really snazzy website.
Drupal is an amazing tool that lets you do that, if you care to anyway. I would encourage anyone who is interested in web dev to go to Drupal.org and check it out!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
OpenOffice.org 3
The OpenOffice.org project recently (in October of 2009), released their 3.0 edition. I usually wait a little while before I install new software, just to give them a bit to work out any bugs. Rarely do I say, "wow" when I install new software, but... wow.
They increased the modularity of the program. For you who are not familiar with the "linux philosophy," they like to keep things simple. One program for one tool, or in the instance of oo.o, one interface for one task. Here the oo.o team added a bunch of great things. There is a new interface just for math. You can make up those great (and complex) equations that I've never understood. You can also add in some great extensions that increase the power of OpenOffice.org beyond the coolness that it already is.
I've not yet fiddled with the oo.o printer manager, but it seems to just be a printer interface for the local CUPS server. Not sure why it's there, but ok, whatever.
Well, the moral of the story is this. If you need a word processing tool, and you're just not feeling the love with the MS 2007 "ribbon" interface, OpenOffice.org is a great GNU alternative. At least, I think that the program is GNU, it might be a different license, but it's still open source and being built by a community of users.
They increased the modularity of the program. For you who are not familiar with the "linux philosophy," they like to keep things simple. One program for one tool, or in the instance of oo.o, one interface for one task. Here the oo.o team added a bunch of great things. There is a new interface just for math. You can make up those great (and complex) equations that I've never understood. You can also add in some great extensions that increase the power of OpenOffice.org beyond the coolness that it already is.
I've not yet fiddled with the oo.o printer manager, but it seems to just be a printer interface for the local CUPS server. Not sure why it's there, but ok, whatever.
Well, the moral of the story is this. If you need a word processing tool, and you're just not feeling the love with the MS 2007 "ribbon" interface, OpenOffice.org is a great GNU alternative. At least, I think that the program is GNU, it might be a different license, but it's still open source and being built by a community of users.
Podcast coming -- HPR
Yesterdays tutorial will be coming at you so you can listen to how I set everything up instead of reading through it. This is, of course, an attempt at differentiation.
For those of you faithful readers who do not know pedagogical principles, differentiation is the idea that people learn differently, and that information should be presented in different ways. Two broad categories of differentiation are visual and auditory. Obviously, a visual person would be much more comfortable reading through instructions while an auditory person would prefer to listen to instructions.
If you are familiar with pedagogical principles, you will know that this is a gross oversimplification. I only mention this concept to help some understand that people learn differently and that you should evaluate how you learn in order to increase your learning potential.
So, the podcast should be coming sometime soon from Hacker Public Radio. Now, a word of clarification. Hacker Public Radio plays more to the hacker mentality than it does to being an evil villainous computer person. A Hacker is someone who wants to know. The modern renaissance man, if you will.
You can find hacker public radio at:
http://www.hackerpublicradio.org/
While my installation of HPR might not show up for a few days, you can head on over there and check out the neat kinds of things that they have going.
For those of you faithful readers who do not know pedagogical principles, differentiation is the idea that people learn differently, and that information should be presented in different ways. Two broad categories of differentiation are visual and auditory. Obviously, a visual person would be much more comfortable reading through instructions while an auditory person would prefer to listen to instructions.
If you are familiar with pedagogical principles, you will know that this is a gross oversimplification. I only mention this concept to help some understand that people learn differently and that you should evaluate how you learn in order to increase your learning potential.
So, the podcast should be coming sometime soon from Hacker Public Radio. Now, a word of clarification. Hacker Public Radio plays more to the hacker mentality than it does to being an evil villainous computer person. A Hacker is someone who wants to know. The modern renaissance man, if you will.
You can find hacker public radio at:
http://www.hackerpublicradio.org/
While my installation of HPR might not show up for a few days, you can head on over there and check out the neat kinds of things that they have going.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Zoneminder, Debian and a USB webcam
So here at the home front (our office), we've been having some strange goings on. Apparently students hold grudges against teachers that award grades fairly (that is, you get the grade you earn). So someone has been doing heinous things to teachers belongings and helping those things to go periodically missing, forcefully adjusted, etc.
Knowing that we can video record here in the USA without a warrant or legal cause to do so, we decided to setup a zoneminder system. For those of you who do not know, Zoneminder is a Linux based, open source CCTV system. One can setup a camera on the computer, set up Zoneminder, setup the camera in Zoneminder and VOILA! A Closed-Circuit TV system is up and running at a whim!
Unfortunately, ZoneMinder (ZM) doesn't really have all that cohesive of a tutorial system. People have just assumed several steps in what needs to happen, which causes problems. I'm going to put up a quick tutorial here that shows you some things that you need to know to be able to run ZM with little difficulty.
First, you need linux. I highly recommend debian for this install as you can run a debian netinst and really parse down your install. I don't like having too much more than I need on an install, so there is less to go wrong.
Download debian netinst from here. Burn it to a Disc, and boot from that disk. (I am, of course, assuming that you're building a computer purely for zoneminder.)
When you install, install only the core system and web server. To do this you'll need to unselect the desktop environment, you won't need it anyway, and select the web server. You can do this step later if you forget.
After that's done running, you'll need to do some fun stuff.
First, log in as root and run:
apt-get install sudo
(this will install sudo on your system.)
Then you'll need to run:
visudo
edit your sudoers file to add in your primary user name.
(usernamer) ALL = (ALL) ALL
CRTL-X will get you out of this, save it without the .old or .tmp extension
This will allow you as the primary user to run commands through SUDO. This is preferred over running everything as root. A Little harder to totally mess things up, and a little more secure.
Great, now that your primary user is a SUDOER, log out of root (CRTL-D) and log back in as your primary user.
Ok, you're going to edit your sources.list like this:
sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list
if you're not familiar with vim, you need to hit 'i' in order to edit the text.
change every "etch" reference to "lenny" and add "contrib non-free" to the end of every line that you edit.
hit ESC, then the colon key (:) then type "wq" at the prompt and hit enter. This will close you out of vim, and get you going.
now type:
sudo apt-get update
This will take a little bit, so hit ALT-F2 to go to a different terminal "window," and log in there.
In this window, you'll want to download the .deb file for zoneminder. Unfortunately zoneminder is not supported in lenny, so you'll have to get the sid version. This worked just fine when I did it and turned out a fairly stable system.
Here's how to download from the command prompt.
First, on another computer (easiest) go to the zoneminder package mirror page which can be found here.
Select a mirror that you want to use and type:
wget http://debian.oregonstate.edu/debian/pool/main/z/zoneminder/zoneminder_1.23.3-3_i386.deb
That's just an example, you can use any of the mirrors from the main debian page.
Back to terminal 1 while that's downloading (ALT-F1)
If it's done downloading the repository indicies, good, otherwise just wait a moment. Then type:
sudo apt-get upgrade
wait a while
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
It's annoying and time consuming, but really worth your while. While that's running, go have a cup of tea, or something. Come back and reboot your computer. It'll be stable and ready to go!
Next, you'll need to install a lot of stuff, so hold on to your shorts and get ready to apt-get your way into bliss!
Run the following commands:
sudo apt-get install mysql-client mysql-server php5
sudo apt-get install php5-mysql libapache2-mod-php5 libapache2-mod-auth-mysql
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
Running those commands will get you on your way. Most of what you need would be picked up by dependencies in the zoneminder package, but that's no big deal for now. Just let it run.
Now, while that's running, check on your second terminal. ALT-F2!
If your zoneminder package has successfully downloaded, just go have another cup of tea. Otherwise try re-typing the url or try a different mirror.
When it's downloaded, exit out of that terminal, you'll not need it anymore.
When apt-get has finished it's jovial run through the trenches, you'll need to run:
sudo dpkg -i zoneminder_1.23.3-3_i386.deb
It will complain about being broken, but just tell it to stop complaining in your favorite vernacular and run:
sudo apt-get install -f
It'll install a whole pile more of packages, and you'll get to watch apt-get do its magic one more time.
Now, make sure apache knows what it's suppose to be doing by typing the commands:
sudo ln -s /etc/zm/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/zoneminder.conf
this will let your web server know where to find the information about zoneminder.
Relax, you're almost done! (Doesn't it feel great?)
Run:
sudo apt-get install module-assisstant
That'll install the Kernel module assistant, which is a really snazzy piece of work!
Next run:
sudo m-a prepare
sudo m-a update
It'll download and install some stuff to get you rolling. Rolling downhill that is!
sudo m-a a-i gspca
sudo modprobe gspca
That will install the drivers (most likely) for your webcam. If your webcam is not supported by these drivers... uhm... get a different webcam. (sorry!)
Reboot your computer. You can restart all the services manually, but rebooting is easier.
Ok, the moment of truth. Run:
sudo zmu -d /dev/video0 -q -v |less
What this will do is let you know what the statistics are for your webcam. This is probably one of the most important steps of getting all things running. You'll need some of these numbers, or you'll have a hard time getting that camera to show up. Piping this through "less" will allow you to scroll up or down while you're reading the info.
Now, log into zoneminder with your other computer. Type in the ip address of the zm machine and type /zm.
Example: http://192.168.1.94/zm
This will bring up (hopefully) the zm console for you. Click "add monitor"
Using the information you gathered from zmu -d, tell zoneminder what your camera is expecting to send out to the world. If you don't tell zoneminder what the camera is expecting, it will not work.
Make sure you set the camera to monitor and make sure it's activated.
I'm sorry not to have gone into more detail after you have zm up, but I think that the final stages are probably the most documented of all the steps. If you need any help with this, post a comment and I'll try to help you out if I can!
Knowing that we can video record here in the USA without a warrant or legal cause to do so, we decided to setup a zoneminder system. For those of you who do not know, Zoneminder is a Linux based, open source CCTV system. One can setup a camera on the computer, set up Zoneminder, setup the camera in Zoneminder and VOILA! A Closed-Circuit TV system is up and running at a whim!
Unfortunately, ZoneMinder (ZM) doesn't really have all that cohesive of a tutorial system. People have just assumed several steps in what needs to happen, which causes problems. I'm going to put up a quick tutorial here that shows you some things that you need to know to be able to run ZM with little difficulty.
First, you need linux. I highly recommend debian for this install as you can run a debian netinst and really parse down your install. I don't like having too much more than I need on an install, so there is less to go wrong.
Download debian netinst from here. Burn it to a Disc, and boot from that disk. (I am, of course, assuming that you're building a computer purely for zoneminder.)
When you install, install only the core system and web server. To do this you'll need to unselect the desktop environment, you won't need it anyway, and select the web server. You can do this step later if you forget.
After that's done running, you'll need to do some fun stuff.
First, log in as root and run:
apt-get install sudo
(this will install sudo on your system.)
Then you'll need to run:
visudo
edit your sudoers file to add in your primary user name.
(usernamer) ALL = (ALL) ALL
CRTL-X will get you out of this, save it without the .old or .tmp extension
This will allow you as the primary user to run commands through SUDO. This is preferred over running everything as root. A Little harder to totally mess things up, and a little more secure.
Great, now that your primary user is a SUDOER, log out of root (CRTL-D) and log back in as your primary user.
Ok, you're going to edit your sources.list like this:
sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list
if you're not familiar with vim, you need to hit 'i' in order to edit the text.
change every "etch" reference to "lenny" and add "contrib non-free" to the end of every line that you edit.
hit ESC, then the colon key (:) then type "wq" at the prompt and hit enter. This will close you out of vim, and get you going.
now type:
sudo apt-get update
This will take a little bit, so hit ALT-F2 to go to a different terminal "window," and log in there.
In this window, you'll want to download the .deb file for zoneminder. Unfortunately zoneminder is not supported in lenny, so you'll have to get the sid version. This worked just fine when I did it and turned out a fairly stable system.
Here's how to download from the command prompt.
First, on another computer (easiest) go to the zoneminder package mirror page which can be found here.
Select a mirror that you want to use and type:
wget http://debian.oregonstate.edu/debian/pool/main/z/zoneminder/zoneminder_1.23.3-3_i386.deb
That's just an example, you can use any of the mirrors from the main debian page.
Back to terminal 1 while that's downloading (ALT-F1)
If it's done downloading the repository indicies, good, otherwise just wait a moment. Then type:
sudo apt-get upgrade
wait a while
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
It's annoying and time consuming, but really worth your while. While that's running, go have a cup of tea, or something. Come back and reboot your computer. It'll be stable and ready to go!
Next, you'll need to install a lot of stuff, so hold on to your shorts and get ready to apt-get your way into bliss!
Run the following commands:
sudo apt-get install mysql-client mysql-server php5
sudo apt-get install php5-mysql libapache2-mod-php5 libapache2-mod-auth-mysql
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
Running those commands will get you on your way. Most of what you need would be picked up by dependencies in the zoneminder package, but that's no big deal for now. Just let it run.
Now, while that's running, check on your second terminal. ALT-F2!
If your zoneminder package has successfully downloaded, just go have another cup of tea. Otherwise try re-typing the url or try a different mirror.
When it's downloaded, exit out of that terminal, you'll not need it anymore.
When apt-get has finished it's jovial run through the trenches, you'll need to run:
sudo dpkg -i zoneminder_1.23.3-3_i386.deb
It will complain about being broken, but just tell it to stop complaining in your favorite vernacular and run:
sudo apt-get install -f
It'll install a whole pile more of packages, and you'll get to watch apt-get do its magic one more time.
Now, make sure apache knows what it's suppose to be doing by typing the commands:
sudo ln -s /etc/zm/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/zoneminder.conf
this will let your web server know where to find the information about zoneminder.
Relax, you're almost done! (Doesn't it feel great?)
Run:
sudo apt-get install module-assisstant
That'll install the Kernel module assistant, which is a really snazzy piece of work!
Next run:
sudo m-a prepare
sudo m-a update
It'll download and install some stuff to get you rolling. Rolling downhill that is!
sudo m-a a-i gspca
sudo modprobe gspca
That will install the drivers (most likely) for your webcam. If your webcam is not supported by these drivers... uhm... get a different webcam. (sorry!)
Reboot your computer. You can restart all the services manually, but rebooting is easier.
Ok, the moment of truth. Run:
sudo zmu -d /dev/video0 -q -v |less
What this will do is let you know what the statistics are for your webcam. This is probably one of the most important steps of getting all things running. You'll need some of these numbers, or you'll have a hard time getting that camera to show up. Piping this through "less" will allow you to scroll up or down while you're reading the info.
Now, log into zoneminder with your other computer. Type in the ip address of the zm machine and type /zm.
Example: http://192.168.1.94/zm
This will bring up (hopefully) the zm console for you. Click "add monitor"
Using the information you gathered from zmu -d, tell zoneminder what your camera is expecting to send out to the world. If you don't tell zoneminder what the camera is expecting, it will not work.
Make sure you set the camera to monitor and make sure it's activated.
I'm sorry not to have gone into more detail after you have zm up, but I think that the final stages are probably the most documented of all the steps. If you need any help with this, post a comment and I'll try to help you out if I can!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Time to pimp others!
Ok, so I'm catching up on my back posts of the linux link tech show (tllts). I was listening to (I think?) was the Halloween episode where the guys chatted with Chad Whallenburg (Sorry if I butchered your name Chad). Chad has a podcast called the Linux Basement. He is also working to increase the level of awareness of FOSS / GNU software in his school district. You can follow along with their progress documenting this project at the sponsored website.
This is a great project where Chad and others are working to provide tutorials and guides on how to integrate Open Source solutions into a proprietary world. FOSS can really save a lot of money as well as provide wonderful solutions to companies who do not want to pay expensive licensing fees.
If you are hankering for another great podcast, check out Lotta Linux Links, I am sure you'll enjoy Mr. Yates commentaries and interviews.
In general, I've been working on getting a Linux report put together to maybe present it or publish it. I think I mentioned that already. That means that I have been doing some research related to Linux in Education and trying to find out what hurdles need to be addressed directly by the open source community. The software is solid, but there seem to be those horrid and persistent perceptions of instability. Is it something that we're doing inherently? Hmmm..
This is a great project where Chad and others are working to provide tutorials and guides on how to integrate Open Source solutions into a proprietary world. FOSS can really save a lot of money as well as provide wonderful solutions to companies who do not want to pay expensive licensing fees.
If you are hankering for another great podcast, check out Lotta Linux Links, I am sure you'll enjoy Mr. Yates commentaries and interviews.
In general, I've been working on getting a Linux report put together to maybe present it or publish it. I think I mentioned that already. That means that I have been doing some research related to Linux in Education and trying to find out what hurdles need to be addressed directly by the open source community. The software is solid, but there seem to be those horrid and persistent perceptions of instability. Is it something that we're doing inherently? Hmmm..
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Tutor session I
Wow! It's been almost a day since I last posted anything on my blog. I am beginning to feel completely remiss in my duties to no one (since at last check almost no one reads this).
Anyway, Tutor Session number one went off today without a hitch! Yay! The students were generally engaged in the process and interested in learning how the new tutoring model will take place. I'm glad to see that the students are so engaged after one two days of being back at school! I had anticipated an uphill battle of bad memories and negative attitudes, but it seems most of the students are willing to work!
We covered some new classroom procedures (such as bell work and being "on-time"). We also reviewed student expectations for being in and AVID tutoring session. I hope that the students will buy into the official model more than the model I half-created half-inherited. The previous model is by no means a bad model, and it is a model that will serve the students well in the future, but the students were not giving the tutoring model any credence in the setting.
Computer club also went very well. We've divided the club up into two groups. The first group is an Object Oriented Programming group using ALICE to learn Object Oriented Principles. The second group is a group who will be learning how to operate Blender 3d. All the students were able to install their respective programs as well as begin their respective tutorials.
jsl
Anyway, Tutor Session number one went off today without a hitch! Yay! The students were generally engaged in the process and interested in learning how the new tutoring model will take place. I'm glad to see that the students are so engaged after one two days of being back at school! I had anticipated an uphill battle of bad memories and negative attitudes, but it seems most of the students are willing to work!
We covered some new classroom procedures (such as bell work and being "on-time"). We also reviewed student expectations for being in and AVID tutoring session. I hope that the students will buy into the official model more than the model I half-created half-inherited. The previous model is by no means a bad model, and it is a model that will serve the students well in the future, but the students were not giving the tutoring model any credence in the setting.
Computer club also went very well. We've divided the club up into two groups. The first group is an Object Oriented Programming group using ALICE to learn Object Oriented Principles. The second group is a group who will be learning how to operate Blender 3d. All the students were able to install their respective programs as well as begin their respective tutorials.
jsl
Monday, January 5, 2009
Programming Fun!
Well, tomorrow marks the first day of teaching a random amalgam of students how to use their computers. I'm not referring to the turning on and off of machines, nor even the utilization of software. I'm hoping to get these students working on some programming skills and concepts! (what was I thinking when I decided to do this?)
In an effort to stay ahead of the curve (which will hopefully be a challenge), I am looking through some code for a new program. The program is called Lumiera, and it's a non-linear video editing tool.
I just go it to compile.
So there.
You might think, "So what? No big deal?" But I would then know you've never tried to compile something from a different system.
So here we go! This ought to be fun! :-)
In an effort to stay ahead of the curve (which will hopefully be a challenge), I am looking through some code for a new program. The program is called Lumiera, and it's a non-linear video editing tool.
I just go it to compile.
So there.
You might think, "So what? No big deal?" But I would then know you've never tried to compile something from a different system.
So here we go! This ought to be fun! :-)
AVID Tutorology
So I just designed my lesson plan for day 1 of Tutoring for semester 2 of AVID. When I started last semester, I was not exactly given much guidance for doing Tutoring sessions. This is not the fault of my district, and the problem has since been ameliorated. I started late in the year and had missed previous opportunities to receive the correct training.
I'm fairly happy with my lesson for tomorrow. I was able to successfully avoid requiring paper to be used by all students, although I will need to make 5 copies for students whose computers are not yet working. I have four parts to my lesson and have been able to cover a good deal of information in a very thorough manner.
Tuesday (tomorrow) will be an overview of Tutoring and how it looks from the student perspective. Thursday, the next tutoring session, will be an implementation of how tutoring show feel and how students should engage in the learning session. Next Monday (a week from today) I should be meeting with all of my Tutors to begin training them in the manners in which they will conduct themselves in class. I have a wide range of Tutors. Some of my Tutors are freshman peer tutors and some of my tutors are upperclassmen.
I'm interested in seeing how these students take to the new tutoring regimen. I think that the students will buy in a little more than usual because some of their peers will be engaged in the process of tutoring.
Next blog post will be regarding my computer club.
I'm fairly happy with my lesson for tomorrow. I was able to successfully avoid requiring paper to be used by all students, although I will need to make 5 copies for students whose computers are not yet working. I have four parts to my lesson and have been able to cover a good deal of information in a very thorough manner.
Tuesday (tomorrow) will be an overview of Tutoring and how it looks from the student perspective. Thursday, the next tutoring session, will be an implementation of how tutoring show feel and how students should engage in the learning session. Next Monday (a week from today) I should be meeting with all of my Tutors to begin training them in the manners in which they will conduct themselves in class. I have a wide range of Tutors. Some of my Tutors are freshman peer tutors and some of my tutors are upperclassmen.
I'm interested in seeing how these students take to the new tutoring regimen. I think that the students will buy in a little more than usual because some of their peers will be engaged in the process of tutoring.
Next blog post will be regarding my computer club.
South East Linux Festival
Well folks, you knew it would happen. (As if you knew anything that would happen relating to this blog.) I have decided to submit a paper to the South East Linux Festival. I just listened to one of Dave Yates' podcasts where he was pimping SELF again. (If you are unfamiliar with Dave Yates and LLL, go to: Lotta Linux Links.)
I think that Linux and Education go very well together. Unfortunately there is a barrier preventing Linux from becoming a relevant part of pedagogy. There are several arguments that I have heard from various people. I think what I'll do it address those arguments and approach Linux from a Bentham philosophical point of view. That is, I'll weigh the pros and cons of a Linux implementation in pedagogy, and hopefully put a good amount of research into it so I can attempt to have it published in a Journal as well.
Sadly enough, I don't believe there is enough research regarding Linux in education to support what I hope to accomplish, but perhaps I can develop my ideas through specific examples. I know that Linux can help people to easily become integrated into a digital world. This integration can referred to as "New Literacy," meaning technological or digital literacy. I wonder if there is any research supporting the idea that Literacy is a cross-platform skill?
Anyway, Linux in Education, look for more here folks!
I think that Linux and Education go very well together. Unfortunately there is a barrier preventing Linux from becoming a relevant part of pedagogy. There are several arguments that I have heard from various people. I think what I'll do it address those arguments and approach Linux from a Bentham philosophical point of view. That is, I'll weigh the pros and cons of a Linux implementation in pedagogy, and hopefully put a good amount of research into it so I can attempt to have it published in a Journal as well.
Sadly enough, I don't believe there is enough research regarding Linux in education to support what I hope to accomplish, but perhaps I can develop my ideas through specific examples. I know that Linux can help people to easily become integrated into a digital world. This integration can referred to as "New Literacy," meaning technological or digital literacy. I wonder if there is any research supporting the idea that Literacy is a cross-platform skill?
Anyway, Linux in Education, look for more here folks!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
New Years Resolution
I have resolved to become a blogger. I can assume, based on what I know about educational principles, that I will become a somewhat better writer by writing regularly. My goal is to write 360 Blog postings this year. While that MIGHT seem like I'm cheating the daily thing or writing one a day, I assure you that is not my intention. I intend to keep my blog postings frequent and informative. Some days will most assuredly have two (or more) postings, and summer might find that there are not many postings at all.
Primarily I hope to be writing about my two favorite subjects, computers and education. With respect to computers, I might tend to lean towards Linux. With respect to education, I will lean towards innovation and what I am attempting to do in my classroom.
If my article does not get approved by the Journal I have submitted it to, then I'll post the article here. Otherwise, I'll simply comment and direct readers to that journal if it gets published. -- note 1/10/09: It's not only my article. There was another guy... We'll call him Bob for anonymity. We wrote the article together, and without his help I would never have gotten it finished. If we do get published, I will definitely buy the man a beer. Or three.
As always, my son will figure into several of my blog posts. He's cool and 16 months old right now. Currently running around the house being quacked at by my wife. He likes to suck on wet rags so we try to keep him in supply of clean wet rags. It seems to really sooth his teeth, which happen to be coming all at once. (I think he's working on 10+ teeth.)
jsl
Primarily I hope to be writing about my two favorite subjects, computers and education. With respect to computers, I might tend to lean towards Linux. With respect to education, I will lean towards innovation and what I am attempting to do in my classroom.
If my article does not get approved by the Journal I have submitted it to, then I'll post the article here. Otherwise, I'll simply comment and direct readers to that journal if it gets published. -- note 1/10/09: It's not only my article. There was another guy... We'll call him Bob for anonymity. We wrote the article together, and without his help I would never have gotten it finished. If we do get published, I will definitely buy the man a beer. Or three.
As always, my son will figure into several of my blog posts. He's cool and 16 months old right now. Currently running around the house being quacked at by my wife. He likes to suck on wet rags so we try to keep him in supply of clean wet rags. It seems to really sooth his teeth, which happen to be coming all at once. (I think he's working on 10+ teeth.)
jsl
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